1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tray conveying apparatus for an optical disc player, and more particularly to a tray conveying apparatus for an optical disc player in which a tray for loading or unloading a disc is slidably moved while maintaining an engagement with gears, thereby preventing the tray from malfunctioning or separating from a player body as a result of an impact applied to the disc player from outside.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in a conventional optical disc player, such as a compact disc player, a laser disc player, and a multi-disc player in which the above-mentioned disc players are combined, a disc mounted on a turn table is rotated by a spindle motor. In the bottom surface of the rotated disc, there is installed an optical pick-up device which linearly moves in the radial direction of the disc while maintaining a predetermined distance with respect to the disc so as to detect a desired track position on the disc. When the track position has been detected, a laser light from an optical system is incident on and reflected from a pit provided on the disc surface, so that a reflected light is generated. The optical disc player reproduces information recorded on the disc by detecting the reflected light as a signal source.
In such an optical disc player, as shown in FIG. 1, a tray 2 for loading or unloading a disc is installed in the inside of a player body 1 such that the tray 2 can slidably move into and out of the player body 1 of the disc player. The tray 2 is clamped by a clamping device 3 which moves upward and downward in the player body 1 of the disk player.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the tray 2 is formed on the bottom surface thereof with a rack 5 which is laterally disposed on the bottom surface of the tray 2 so as to engage with a driving gear 4 which is rotated by a separate driving device (not shown). A pair of guide racks 7a and 7b, which are respectively engaged with a pair of support gears 6a and 6b for guiding the tray 2 to be conveyed, protrude from left and right end portions of the bottom surface of tray 2. Therefore, when the driving gear 4 is rotated by the separate driving device, the tray 2 is slidably moved into or out of the player body 1 by the operation of the rack 5 engaged with the driving gear 4. At this time, since the guide racks 7a and 7b, protruding from the bottom surface of the tray 2, are moved while maintaining the engagement with the support gears 6a and 6b, the slide-movement of the tray 2 can be easily attained.
However, the conventional tray conveying apparatus having the above construction has disadvantages as follows.
First, when an external impact is applied to the disc player while the tray is being moved into or out of the disc player, the guide racks engaged with the support gears can be separated from the support gears, thereby resulting in malfunction of the tray.
Furthermore, if the external impact is applied to the tray when the tray has been completely opened, the tray can be separated from the disc player body, rendering the disc player inoperable.